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Good Design Doesn’t Just Look Unique and Function Well; it Follows the Laws of Nature

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Guest Blog by Anaïs Passera of Grown.Bio with an update by Claire Attkisson

Carbon is not the problem. Carbon is not the enemy. Carbon is a key building block of all life. It belongs. It belongs in our soil. It belongs in our bodies. It does NOT belong in such huge quantities in our atmosphere and air. This may sound insane at first. You see, sustainability has a narrative problem. The sustainability community focuses on the “moral” narrative too much and at our peril: “do good”; “be less bad” ;“do the right thing”; “zero carbon”; “net zero”….It’s easy to get caught up in this language. I do too. We see climate change as a moral cause because we are finally seeing the true cost of designing and powering an economy outside of the laws of nature: our very own human existence is hanging in the balance. It’s not “save the polar bears” time. It’s “save the humans” time. Now we’re awake. Well, at least some of us are.  

Why I take issue with the moral sustainability narrative is that it makes some of us “good” and others “bad”. This division will never lead to global change and success. Instead, McDonough (founder of cradle-to-cradle design) and Benyus (founder of biomimicry) argue that nature has already figured out how billions of species can thrive together over billions of years.

So how does nature do it? Nature’s laws of life are:

1. There is no such thing as waste, just biodegradability: death=life; waste=food;

2. Energy comes from the sun;

3. Oxygen and carbon are the bases of all life;

4. Nature competes, but mainly cooperates through symbiotic relationships. We didn’t set out to design our global economy to harm people and destroy the planet. Now we know.

Now we know carbon belongs in the Earth and in us. The sustainability narrative I’m promoting is about sharing what makes “good design”. Good design isn’t just how cool something looks or functions (yes, this is very important), but how it incorporates the laws of nature. Good design fosters life.

Grown.Bio Product Packaging

Grown.Bio is a company designing packaging and products that do just that—naturally. Grown.Bio grows material from mycelium and wast-streams, creating a fully biodegradable material that also captures and stores carbon.

Grown.Bio support the transition to a circular economy by creating a biodegradable product through a production process that is CO2 negative. It is the ONLY material, together with algae, that is capable of acting as a carbon sink.

Grown.Bio Planter

How is this possible? Mycelium is a living organism that captures CO2 from the atmosphere during its growth process and stores it in the material. How wonderful is that!

Mycelium is the root system of mushrooms. This allows Grown.Bio to literally grow products such as packaging, insulation panels or interior design objects and furniture. Mycelium has a binding effect and ensures that the grown network of fungal threads glues a substrate together.

Grown.Bio Packaging

Any product shape and size can be ‘grown’ in a mold. The process takes about 5 days, after which the product is removed from the mold to be dried in an oven. This stops the growth process of the mycelium and therefore ensures a sturdy material!

Products made with Mycelium are a sustainable alternative to plastic-based materials such as polystyrene foam. Due to its properties, it can perfectly serve as protective packaging or insulating panels.

Due to its lightweight, velvet touch texture, many companies have already showed interest in changing the way they design and use packaging. A few examples are MyBacs and Haeckels.

Grown.Bio Lighting

Why is this innovation a circular solution? Since Mycelium packaging is a biological nutrient free of toxins and is 100% biodegradable, its end of life is either as an object of interest in your home as a newspaper holder, a candle holder, a pot for a plant, and more. Mycelium packaging also makes for a healthy compost for your home garden: when broken into small pieces, the parts decompose within a few months.

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About Grown.Bio: Our mission is to make a positive impact by changing the way people and companies see and use packaging. These days, it is essential to work together with nature; we grow living organisms into shapes that are useful and then biodegradable. It is the story of circular materials that makes our product as beautiful as it is!

www.grown.bio

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Live Creative Studio is a sustainable business, marketing, and shopping hub. Live Creative offers strategic creative for purpose brands; strategic sustainability for any business; and a curated sustainable marketplace for everyone to shop their values every day.

What is Sustainable Interior Design, Really?

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Written by guest blogger Dorothy Parker, Owner + Sustainable Interior Designer at d+b design | Durango, Colorado

Many brands, companies and services offer up tag words such as “sustainable”, “environmentally friendly”, and “eco-friendly”. What do these claims mean? Short answer, it varies and unless it’s coming from a certified sustainable business or their product is certified (cradle-to-cradle, circular, fair trade, forest certified, etc.), it’s purely for marketing purposes (aka Greenwashing).

Sustainable interior design can mean many different things. For d+b design it means striving for better and healthier products for your home. With a certification as a Green AP from the Sustainable Furnishing Council, we know how to source truly sustainable home products and furnishings. Having this certification means we are knowledgeable about the materials, how they were made, and what they are made of that are hand selected for your home.

Being sustainable doesn’t have to mean drastic changes or doubling of the price. In fact, you might be surprised at the beautiful options available that are both sustainable, fairly made and similarly priced to less eco-friendly options. 

Why Does Sustainable Interior Design Matter?

Let’s start with the Why. Why does it matter and why should you care? The majority of scientists around the world agree that climate change is real and drastic change needs to happen to help mitigate the impact.

Just recently, a new report came out detailing the current climate crisis. It outlines the devastation that human caused climate change has inflicted including wildfires, heat waves and floods.

Because of this every industry must do what they can to use less energy, less pollutants and help with reforestation.  When it comes to home furnishings, they are third in line for deforestation (after buildings #1 and paper #2). 

Additionally according to the EPA in 2018, 9,680 tons of furniture and furnishings end up in the landfill every year in the US alone. Items that end up in landfills create CO2 and that carbon monoxide contributes to Climate Change.

Home furnishings don’t just affect the planet, they also affect the indoor air quality. Chemicals such as formaldehyde, flame retardants, antimicrobials and vinyl can commonly be found in all types of furnishings. Each one of these chemicals are known carcinogens that can cause cancer, asthma, and a variety of other health problems.    

Last, sustainability doesn’t just mean the materials that make the items we are purchasing. It also means that the people who make the finished item as well as the suppliers are well treated. It’s making sure that both adults and children aren’t being forced to work against their will. 

Do Eco Friendly Furnishings Cost More?

As the demand for sustainable products grows the range and affordability grows. In research done by the Sustainable Furnishing Council, overall the price of eco friendly furnishing is about 10% more. Considering that is the average, some products cost nothing more and some can be higher than 10%.

The fact is that there is a broad scope of options and some may not check all the boxes that make a product 100% environmentally safe and fairly traded. The most important thing about choosing sustainably made items is that small changes and differences matter. This is not a black and white choice, there are a thousand shades of gray to choose from.

Sure, you can have a piece of furniture that is made in the US, with all natural components with offsetting shipping that might be of a higher price range. AND there is also the option to pick something from a retailer that makes a sofa with cushions made from recycled water bottles (yes, it’s 100% a thing!) which was made in China. It may not be perfect, but I’ll take progress any day over perfection.

And let’s not forget to mention that some of the best pieces of furniture are vintage or upcycled. This helps hold the important pillars to reduce, reuse and recycle.

What is a Green AP Certification?

To become certified as a Green Accredited Professional one must complete an intensive course in sustainability through the Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC). The course is an industry-first, developed in conjunction with the Sustainable Furnishings Council and approved by ranking staff of Rainforest Alliance, World Wildlife Fund and one of the co-founders of USGBC/LEED.

This accreditation is designed to pick up where LEED leaves off, focusing specifically on the furnishings themselves and other interior design issues.

The Green AP course provided a ton of information on the environmental issues in the interior design industry. It also provided a wide range of product solutions, many of which don’t cost any more than ordinary ones.

It’s simply a matter of knowing the right places to look and the right questions to ask.

About the Sustainable Furnishings Council

I’ve been on this journey to learn about sustainable design for many years now and the more I learn the more questions I have. Any time I see a design magazine featuring sustainable design I grab it and sometimes read it multiple times. Reading one of these articles was the first time that I heard of the Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC).

I became captivated with their website, resources and their membership roster. I was really surprised to see so many vendors I’ve been using for years listed as members. I had never known their commitment to making eco-friendly products.

The SFC has been committed to sustainability since 2006 and was founded at the High Point Market in North Carolina which is the largest home furnishings industry trade show in the world. When the SFC was created there were some 70 founding members. Since then the SFC has grown to over 400 members which is the largest organization of its kind in the residential furnishings industry.

The SFC has clear values and a clear mission to help companies reduce their environmental footprint, and to and to help consumers find healthier products and design services.

According to the SFC’s website, “SFC urges the use of Life Cycle Assessment as the best method for analyzing the environmental and health impact of products and a verifiable chain of custody as the only acceptable method for tracking wood flow. SFC members support the triple bottom line of PEOPLE – PLANET – PROFITS and lead the industry in best practices throughout their supply chains. Members are committed to continuous work toward a healthy future, inside and out.”

The “What’s it made of” Initiative

I love this concept and commitment created by the SFC in partnership with the American Sustainable Building Council. Center for Environmental Health and Parsons Healthy Materials Lab, and others.

This program is designed to help businesses “ask and find out what everything you use is made of, in an effort to avoid the harmful chemicals most commonly found in furnishings.”This helps with transparency in supply chains and stimulates innovation to reduce harmful chemicals in furnishings.

I have taken a pledge to ask companies that I purchase from about their materials and if they include flame retardant chemicals, fluorinated stain treatments, antimicrobials, vinyl and VOCs including formaldehyde.

Companies That Are Doing Their Part

As I mentioned before, there are companies out there that are committed to sustainability, environmentally safe, and equitable work. Here are my five favorites:

Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams

Another founding member of the SFC who have “been making environmentally intelligent decisions” since their founding in 1989. Like Room & Board, their furniture is made here in the United States and their style is timeless and contemporary.

Coyuchi

I’ve heard from more than one person that Coyuchi bedding is the best bedding in the world. Founded in 1991 in Point Reyes, CA, their sheets, duvet covers, and towels

have always been organic, intentional and committed to the people who grow and manufacture this luxury bedding.  They are GOTS certified which is the highest standard in the world for sustainability. Want to dork out on their commitments more? Check out their blog here.

Cisco Home

If it’s good enough for Mila Kunis & Ashton Kutcher it’s good enough for me. Don’t let the fact that it’s in a luxury home featured in Architectural Digest fool you, it’s not the most expensive furniture available. Cisco furniture is made in both Los Angeles and North Carolina and was the first designer to create 100% FSC wood for their upholstery products.

Robin Bruce

A classic contemporary furniture company who has something for everyone. Robin Bruce is a partner brand to Rowe Furniture and both have commitmentments to sustainability. They have “made a solid commitment to eco-friendly manufacturing processes and sustainable product development. EcoRowe focuses on crucial elements in our future: a selection of fabrics produced from natural fibers, renewable fibers, and the use of wood from replenished, domestic forests for the frames and the choice of two eco-friendly seat cushion cores.”

Loloi Rugs

I love Loloi Rugs and with their broad style and price range there is something for every space in your home. I just ordered this shag rug made from recycled water bottles designed in partnership with Justina Blakeney.  You would never know it’s from recycled plastic! If Justina Blakeney isn’t your thing they partner with many other designers including Ellen DeGeneres and Rifle Paper Co.

Sources with Honorable Mentions:

Other sources for environmentally safe options include Kravet, (a to-the-trade resource for textiles, etc.), Crate & Barrel, Ikea, and West Elm and Live Creative Studio’s Sustainable Marketplace has a few choice sustainable design sources too.

In summary, sustainable interior design doesn’t have to be crunchy or expensive. We’re just out here to make homes beautiful, healthy and try to leave no trace along the way.

Not to be all doom and gloom but climate change is happening and it’s our job to take steps to lower our carbon footprint. The most important pillars for this is to reuse, reduce, and recycle. Let’s implement that into all aspects of our daily lives including furniture and accessories.

Through innovation and demand, buying sustainable  furniture and home goods is becoming less expensive. Overall the research shows that the price increase is on average 10% though in my experience it is sometimes the same price as a less than eco friendly option.

Have you found an eco-friendly home product you love? Let us know about it in the comments.

And don’t forget, sharing is caring! If you have a friend that might be interested in sustainable interior design please pass it on.

As always, if you want to learn more about us or our design you can out check d+b design here.

Until next time,

—Dorothy Parker

5 Reasons to Dress Like You Give a Damn

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Guest blog by: Ryan Nielsen of Eco-Stylist with contributions and edits by Claire Attkisson of Live Creative Studio.

Why Sustainable Brands Need Your Support

When you look good, you feel good. Many people would agree with that statement. Let’s take this logic one step further, perhaps feeling good about what you wear is about looking sharp and wearing your values. Maybe it means wearing clothes you actually feel proud of—knowing that your purchases benefited people and the planet. That your spending power is driving real change for good in the world.

Turning the tide towards more sustainable fashion may seem difficult, but it is actually a simple enterprise: We invest our spending in the sustainable brands that make a positive impact. 

Most people today would probably argue that they shop for things without regard for “sustainable vs unsustainable” products, and instead, they shop out of convenience–“where can I get what I want in the most efficient manner, and for the cheapest price?” 

We’re all guilty of this to some extent, and indeed, those concerns–efficiency and price–are useful considerations when shopping for goods. Though unfortunately, shopping this way leads to the growth of brands with unsustainable practices. 

Imagine if we took the money we give to unsustainable businesses, and instead purchased from more ethical and sustainable brands? This simple change can have a huge upside, and that upside is economies of scale: when something is more frequently bought, in this case, sustainable clothing, the demand for the product goes up, often leading to a drop in the price or certainly sending a strong signal to business leaders that sustainable business practices and materials are not just a cost center, but a profit center. This is your spending power. Use it.

But there is a catch, sustainable brands can’t get there without your support.

Five Reasons to Dress Like You Give A Damn 

Sustainable fashion brands use: 1. eco-friendly materials (such as organic cotton or hemp), 2. reduce water and carbon usage, and 3. invest in renewable energy. These practices can help alleviate many environmental issues, especially considering the massive water (20% of global wastewater) and carbon (1.2 billion tons of CO2 per year) footprint of fast fashion.

But sustainability isn’t just about the planet. True triple bottom line sustainable fashion brands also require: 4. fair labor practices and provide fair treatment to their employees regardless of gender or race by offering them living wages and the proper access to essential services such as health care and child care. 5. Additionally, they give them a voice within their company, treating them as valuable members of the team whose opinion matters. Many sustainable brands also invest in the local communities in which they operate, improving the lives of all who live there and creating an economic ripple effect.

The benefits of making fashion more sustainable are profound, and wearing sustainable brands just may work wonders on your subconscious as well. Knowing that you are wearing a better quality product, made with organic, eco-friendly materials and crafted by a properly-paid, fairly-treated worker can help you feel better about your purchase—like you give a damn! Now with ever increasing sustainable textile innovation eco-materials are equal to or superior to petroleum, non-organic, plastic based materials. Besides, who wants to wear plastic? And, you still look good: Sustainable fashion brands are killing it in the design department. Not only will you look good, you’ll feel good. 

Enter Eco-Stylist

We created Eco-Stylist specifically to bring men into the sustainable fashion conversation. Today, we’re doing a lot more. Our philosophy? Dress like you give a damn: the act of looking sharp without compromising your values. Eco-Stylist’s mission is to help you do just that.

We know it can be difficult to figure out if the clothes you’re buying check all the right boxes. Do the materials used to make your shirt have a negative impact on the environment? Are the people who stitched together your jeans being paid fair wages? Does this even look good on me?

But before you call it quits and opt to buy the $15 sweatshirt from the fast fashion retailer that you know isn’t likely to be providing an acceptable workspace for their underpaid employees, know that we are doing the hard work of answering these questions for you. 

eco-stylust-mensware-sustainable-marketplace
Eco-Stylist

Using Remake’s sustainable brand criteria, we take the time to thoroughly research brands before we choose to partner with them. This criterion takes into consideration a number of factors, including transparency, environmental sustainability, maker well-being, use of sustainable raw materials, and the leadership of the brand within the ethical fashion sphere. If a brand passes, we partner with them and promote their products on our website.

Eco-Stylist is convenient, ethical, and tailored to you. We host a Sustainable Brands Directory for everyone, curate sustainable clothing for men in an easy-to-use marketplace, and offer virtual + sustainable personal styling.

With a continuously growing list of brands, Eco-Stylist is among a growing list of websites (Remake, The Good Trade, Ecocult, Live Creative Studio’s Sustainable Marketplace etc.) that are calling attention to the transparency of clothing brands and putting the spotlight on brands that care. Check them out, book mark them for easy access, and shop with ease so you can feel good wearing your values.

Author Bio:

Ryan Nielsen

Ryan is a writer at Eco-Stylist and recent graduate from the University of Iowa with degrees in Cinema and English and Creative Writing.

Thank you, Ryan Nielsen, for this informative and inspiring guest blog!

—Claire of Live Creative Studio

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Live Creative is a sustainable business, marketing, and shopping hub. Our Creative Studio offers authentic marketing, branding, and sustainable business expertise to ethical, sustainable, and purpose brands. And Sustainable Business Team offers sustainability strategy and goals setting as well as sustainable packaging services. And, our Lifestyle Team curates our global Sustainable Marketplace, the Durango Sustainable Biz Guide, and Get Real—our inspiring Innovation for Good weekly newsletter. Follow us on Insta: @livecreativestudios, like us on Facebook: Live Creative Studio and join our FB Group: Sustainable Business Idea Exchange.

Sustainable Interior Design: How To Bring Nature Inside

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By Guest Blogger: Silvia Ceria of DforDesign

sustainable-interior-design-examples-live-creative-blog
Credit Image: Renaissance Rehab Upcycled Furniture

Sustainability is a wide term, fascinating on one side and on the other very confusing. What exactly does it mean to be sustainable?

Time to bring some clarity! Looking in the dictionary, sustainable refers to “something that can endure”. But how does this translate in business or design practice?

What follows is a journey through sustainability in the interior design industry with exciting examples, terms defined, and innovations celebrated.

Natural Materials

Intuitively, one would think that natural materials are always sustainable. But that’s not necessarily the case. Next to the actual material, it’s important to consider production, sourcing, and waste. Therefore, a natural material is more sustainable if it needs fewer resources to be grown and is sourced respecting nature’s replenishment cycles.

A good example is wood—a very common material in interior design. Cutting down trees at a massive rate (or worse, clear cutting old growth trees) is not sustainable. And neither are the objects made with such wood.

Certifications that focus on forest management – like FSC and PEFC – ensure forest ecosystems remain in tact as the lungs of our world and critical habitat for biodiversity to thrive.

Sustainable Forestry

Riviera, for example, by Skagerak is a furniture piece made of FSC-certified teak wood. Being extendable and operable, it works as bench, side table and sun-bed. Besides saving money and space to the end-user, a multi-functional piece saves resources that would have gone into the production of other items!

CREDIT IMAGE : Skagerak Forest Certified Teak
Outdoor Modular Furniture

Recycled Materials

Materials have a long life, often longer than the objects they’re used for. IN fact, most products spend more time being produced or in the land fill than they do in “use”. Yet, when an object is discarded, chances are its materials are still in good condition. It makes financial and environmental sense to recycle those materials!

Reusing materials in multiple production cycles also fits into the transition towards a global circular economy, which means to “keep products and materials in continual use” among its founding principles (i.e. there is no longer such a thing as “waste”). In a circular economy, we “mine” materials already in use and recycle or upcycle them into other products.

For example, NOMA makes an armchair made of 77.5% recycled materials, including recycled foam and polyester for the seat and recycled plastic for the back. Steel components are also partially recycled and NOMA is working to further improve on this point.

Credit Image: NOMA Recycled Chair

Waste Upcycling

Speaking of material recycling, waste deserves a special mention. Waste is a label attached to products and materials that are deemed to be no longer useful. But in the right hands, they can be useful again!

Offcuts are such a “waste” (i.e. production leftovers) that companies are now increasingly reusing —and saving money in the process.

Another source of so called waste is the incredible amount of trash produced every day in our less-than-efficient world. Turning waste into high quality treasure is now the name of the game.

The René by Salvatori is a bistro table made with stone scraps. Part of the Lost Stones initiative, it gives new life to old stone leftovers by gluing them together using Kintsugi (a traditional Japanese technique that uses golden lacquer to repair broken pottery).

Credit Image: Salvatori Recycled Stone Bistro Table

Ubu by Planq is another example of a chair designed to repurpose textile waste. Its back and seat are made by mixing discarded textiles with a biodegradable binder coming from potato or corn starch. The resulting material – PlanqTextile– takes its marbled colour from the raw material itself. Green from old army clothes, blue from jeans and airline uniforms, beige from coffee bags and so on.

Credit Image: Planq Chairs Made of Textile Waste (i.e Blue Jeans)

And, LAAB by Miyuca is a collection of pendant lamps made by upcycling fallen leaves that are mixed with natural additives and biological resins and then moulded into reusable wooden moulds.

Credit Image – Miyuca Lamps Made of Fallen Leaves

New Material Innovation

The importance of sustainable development is inspiring designers to experiment with creative techniques, resulting in jaw-dropping new innovations in materials.

For example, Almond by Keep Life, is a mirror whose base is made with an innovative new material obtained from crushed dried fruits shells mixed with a solvent-and formaldehyde- free binder.

Credit Image: Keep Life Made of Fruit Shell Waste

And, MushLume by Danielle Trofe, is a table lamp that embraces the concept of biofabrication in design. Its shade is literally grown using mushroom mycelium and agricultural byproducts.

Credit Image: Danielle Trofe Lamp Grown with the Help of
Mycelium Mushrooms

Re-thinking design

Although important, materials are only one part of the story. The rest has to do with processes, from design to production, transportation and disposal. The initial design phase is crucial because it takes many irreversible decisions. Among the rest, designing for sustainability entails developing easy-to-disassemble products (so that materials can be reused), providing spare parts (for repairing) and conceiving flexible products that adapt to changing needs.

Wait by Nola, for instance, is an FSC-certified wood bench whose modular design allows adaptations over time. Damaged parts can be replaced & recycled, stretching the lifecycle of this product even more.

Credit Image: Nola – Photo by Jann Lipka Forest Certified Wood Modular Furniture

Lighter Supply Chain

Sustainability in the supply chain is very much a work in progress. There is no golden formula, just individual measures to combine. These include powering operations with renewable energy, minimizing and reusing production waste and using recycled packaging – just to name a few.

Bolon, for example, produces sustainable vinyl flooring by upcycling PVC waste. Manufacturing happens in a zero-waste factory that runs on 100% renewable energy coming from water, windmills and local groundwater cooling.

Credit Image: Bolon Chair Made of Upcycled PVC

Supporting Communities

Social considerations fall into the sustainability (triple bottom line: people, planet, profit) scope as well. And interior design productions have a role to play. Among the many needs to be tackled is the reduction of global inequalities.

Bwari by Nkuku, for example, is a cutting board made of marble and upcycled mango wood, that is manufactured by Indian artisans working under fair conditions. Nkuku has chosen to collaborate with suppliers that are starting off in their fair trade journey, thus contributing to the creation of more ethical employment for artisans around the world.

Credit Image: Nkuku Cutting Boards Made By Fair Trade Artisans using
Upcycled Mango Wood and Marble

Going Vintage

Not to be forgotten, the most sustainable way is not making things at all. In interior design, this translates into valuing vintage items, restoring and updating them if necessary.

Renaissance Rehab, for example, is an upcycling project that updates old design objects with scrap designer fabrics, thus “re-circulating beauty”.

Credit Image: Renaissance Rehab Upcycled Furniture

Sustainable interior design is a growing trend because it makes financial and environmental sense, plus it’s an industry full of inspiring creatives willing to test the boundaries of what’s possible in sustainable innovation. For more ideas and examples, you’re welcome to visit SforSustainable – my online platform of curated Earth-friendly interior products (including those mentioned above).

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Thank you, Sylvia, for this informative and inspiring guest blog!

—Claire of Live Creative Studio

Live Creative is a sustainable business, marketing, and shopping hub. Our Creative Studio offers authentic marketing, branding, and sustainable business expertise to ethical, sustainable, and purpose brands. And Sustainable Business Team offers sustainability strategy and goals setting as well as sustainable packaging services. And, our Lifestyle Team curates our global Sustainable Marketplace, the Durango Sustainable Biz Guide, and Get Real—our inspiring Innovation for Good weekly newsletter.

How to Create an Eco-Friendly Website with Green Web Hosting

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This is actually a guest blog written by Erika Rodriguez of Nadi Marketing!

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post may be “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, at no extra cost to you I will receive an affiliate commission.

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There is more and more attention being put on a corporation’s “carbon foot print” and clear ways to reduce green house gas emissions in the workplace. But what about your digital home footprint? What changes can you make in our home office? This blog focuses on greening your website as an easy and impactful place to start.

One Of The World’s Largest Polluters

The truth is the web isn’t as green as we all think as web hosting accounts for 2% of the world’s carbon emissions, the same amount as the airline industry.

The internet is one of the world’s largest polluters. It’s hard to believe that the internet is polluting our planet as we’ve seen numerous times to “save paper and go digital.” Also, companies have pivoted their operations and service to be online. For example, CDs and DVDs that were once producing tons of plastic are now streaming services like Spotify and Hulu.

All of these companies and our websites are “hosted,” aka stored on powerful servers. These servers are in-housed and maintained in massive data centers around the world. Data centers have increased at a rapid rate.

“In 2012, there were 500,000 data centers worldwide. Today there are over 8 million data centers worldwide.”

These data centers need to be cooled with air conditioning 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to prevent them from overheating and crashing. Data centers take an enormous amount of energy and, as a result, impact the environment. 

What can we do about this? Let’s talk about eco web hosting!

Green Web Hosting

We can choose to host our website on an eco-friendly web hosting provider like GreenGeeks. These green web hosting companies strive to be energy-efficient with their data centers without compromising performance. Every green web hosting provider seeks to reduce its carbon footprint. I recommend using GreenGeeks; they are the world’s #1 green energy web hosting provider, and here’s why:

  • GreenGeeks is a Green Power Partner of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) since 2009 with a 93% green power of total electricity use.
  • On the website, GreenGeeks provides transparency by sharing its 5 data center locations: Phoenix, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, and Amsterdam. They also let you choose which data center your website is hosted by selecting where your hosting account is provisioned.
  • GreenGeeks calculates how much energy they consume each year. For every amperage they pull from the grid, Green Geeks matches three times that in renewable energy via Bonneville Environmental Foundation. Your website is not only carbon-neutral, but it is carbon-reducing!

GreenGeeks is currently having a New Years Sale until the end of the month (the sale was just extended!). If you are thinking about creating a new website, looking for a new web hosting provider, or looking to go green with your website, I encourage you to check out GreenGeeks and take advantage of their sale. Plans are up to 75% off.

I know websites can be overwhelming; let me know if you have any questions in the comments below. Also, let me know if you’ve heard of green or eco web hosting before? I’m curious to know how many people are familiar with this terminology. It’s been eye-opening to learn about, and happy to share it with all of you.

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Erika Rodriguez is the founder of Nadi Marketing, an eco-conscious digital marketing agency remotely-based in San Diego, California. Erika helps mission-driven companies, social impact organizations, and ecopreneurs to create impactful content, partnerships, and campaigns that engage with the sustainable consumers of today. Follow/like me on Instagram, Facebook, Facebook Group: EcoBizCollective, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Pintrest

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Thank you, Erika for this informative and inspiring guest blog!

Live Creative is a sustainable business, marketing, and shopping hub. Our Creative Studio offers authentic marketing, branding, and sustainable business expertise to ethical, sustainable, and purpose brands. And Sustainable Business Team offers sustainability strategy and goals setting as well as sustainable packaging services. And, our Lifestyle Team curates our global Sustainable Marketplace, the Durango Sustainable Biz Guide, and Get Real—our inspiring Innovation for Good weekly newsletter.

4 Steps to Align Your Business with it’s Values

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By Guest Blogger: Davey McConnell

Photo By Ian Schneider on Unsplash

Sustainability is a trending topic on the tip of everyone’s tongue lately. Businesses want in on the green dollar and consumers want to feel like they are making a difference. This isn’t to say that there aren’t purpose-driven businesses truly seeking to create change, but how to tell the difference? Well-meaning businesses need to make an effort to stand out amongst the green wave.

As a sustainable business, it’s super important to be able to show that your business really is what it says it is. Conscious consumers are wising up to the rampant greenwashing of products and services. Anyone can call their business “green” but what are you really doing to live up to that label?

What business practices have you implemented to reduce your environmental impact or give back to society?

Are you telling your customers and audience about these?

Can they easily find this information on your website or socials?

If you’re having a hard time answering these questions, then I encourage you to please keep reading. In order for sustainable businesses to grow and, well… be sustainable, they must not just talk the talk but walk the walk.

As more and more people wake up to the abuses of large corporations to the planet and its people through their products, supply chains, and even packaging… more and more consumers want to know their money is going to an ethical business.

There are a few things businesses can do to be transparent and take action, but more than that, make sure that your customers and clients are aware of what you stand for. Make sure they can see it.

What do your customers want to know?

They want to know your VALUES. They want to know what’s important to them is also important to you.

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Now let’s break it down into some actions you can take.

1. Write down your values.

This can be a fun team exercise. Do a brain dump of all the things that are important to you and that you want your brand to represent. Choose the top 4-6 values that really encompass what you’re all about.

For example, mine are: service, authenticity, freedom, impact, education, and environmental justice.

2. Express your values through branding.

This can be done by incorporating your business’s values into all communications and actions. Every piece of copy, every message you send, every campaign, and every product must have something that relates back to your business’s values.

3. Choose an organization or cause that your business can support with donations of time or money.

If your business isn’t doing this already, take a look at your values and brainstorm a few causes that align with those values. Perhaps you care about deforestation, the state of our oceans, or education. Do you want to focus your efforts locally or globally? Doing a little bit of research and networking will help you find the perfect fit.

4. Make changes.

Your materials, vendors, transportation, packaging, labor, and even some in-house processes are all good places to start looking. You could even look at where your money is kept and the investments your business has made. See what investments your bank is making and if they are aligned with your values.

Now that you know what your values are, the changes you can make, and the cause(s) you want to support AND you’ve engrained them into every facet of your business’s branding, it’s time to put them out there in the open!

  • Create a post on social media.
  • Write a blog post.
  • Put it in your newsletter.
  • Dedicate a whole page on your website expressing them.
  • Represent them in your mission statement.
  • Pitch a story to the press.

Every business is different and of course your’s may not be able to do all of these things, but what is important is to take inventory of where changes are possible and implement what you can.

Sure some of these changes may cost a little more and take some time to figure out, but take a look at the alternative. By aligning your business’s values and practices with those that matter to your customers, you’re sure to see your sustainable business flourish.

Now who am I to talk about these things? I’m an eco virtual assistant on a mission to support eco conscious entrepreneurs by helping them take back their time so they can fulfill their purpose. This is the exact framework I am using to ensure my clients and audience are aware of my values and the impact I’m striving to make.

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Bio-

Davey, the Eco Helper, is a virtual assistant working solely with eco conscious entrepreneurs. She provides her clients with the freedom to grow & scale their sustainable businesses through collaborative general admin, social media management, and graphic design services.

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If you would like to be a guest blogger on our Sustainability Hub, contact Claire.